How it works

The functionality is as simple as genius. The joining train has influence on the priority line by adding OR logic. The exit-signal of the joining trains track turns green again after a train made a decision. If in the meantime a train on the mainline blocked the entrance it stays green, because the OR logic determines it (the joining train unblocks itself, because the exit-signal turns green). If a train is already on the mainline, both signals are red at the point the joining train has to make the decision and won’t join.
Well, if you didn’t understand anything its either my english or you should read it again. Though pictures say more then 1k words. Here we go:

Situation 0

This is a very basic situation, a train is on outer line and wants to go the the waypoint. No trains are coming on the mainline.

Situation 1

The train entered the block with the exit signal and it turns red.

Situation 2

The length of the track from the exit signal block to the joining block is exactly as long as one train (TL). If you have trains of different sizes on one track you either use the TL sorter first or you have a neat idea.

Situation 3

The train choses, the correct track. This isn’t too interesting because there isn’t a train on the ML. Though you might have notice that the exit signal turned green again right before the train passes the entrance signal.

Situation 4

Now we have the same situation as before, but a train is coming on the ML. The train on the sideline already decided to join the ML.

Situation 5

The train on the ML now activated the priority line and the entrance signal turned red. This is a bad situation, because the train on the SL wants to join now. and the other train is far away, joining isn’t a problem.

Situation 6

Luckily in the same moment the exit signal turns green again and therefor also the entrance signal, the train on the SL can join.

I really love this behaviour and you can replace joiners with “overtaking space” with this system. You can probably reduce the size of SML layouts we see nowadays and the good old 1<2 join or even more might become attractive again.

Quadruple Full-Featured Cyclotron

And what I wanted to show you, I modified Pitt2’s Cyclotron, it comes now with 4 entrance possibilities which increases the chance of a join drastically. And for high-speed trains the additional way shouldn’t be a problem.

After recent interests in self-regulating construction, there was an attempt to improve the usability of such designs. We have already seen self-regulating networks, where dummy trains transfer cargo onto ML trains, and recently self-regulating orders where vehicles could potentially go to all stations. What has not yet been done is to apply a form of regulation to point-to-point passenger games.

The main idea behind the concept is to have trains arbitrarily choose a station to drop their next load. While one could put each possible pair of stations into an order list, you would have to maintain the 240 possible pairs  for 16 stations, making it a big hassle. However, if you force trains in a certain direction by the network, you can keep everything more manageable. So if you can force a certain selection of trains in one direction, you are set.

The plan for PSG #157

In PSG #157, the idea was put to the test. The plan basically consisted of four flattened rings, where trains would be able to change on the shared parts. At three of the hubs, trains would have a choice of turning right or left. Using logic, trains were forced either left or right in turn. The two smaller hubs used flip-flops to do perfectly cut the train flow in half for each outer part. Due to the size of a flip-flop, the central hub was built using a timer. This timer forced all trains to the left for a few seconds, then right for the next few seconds, which again resulted in the stream being effectively cut in half.

Stations would need a much lower ratio – if they would get a 50/50 share, the chance was very likely that the train would drop the load at the next stop, and the chance of reaching the other end of the network would be minimal. Instead each station was given 1/8th of the traffic, which gave a good distribution without having the trains spending an eternity on the line. Due to traffic being halved, the outer hubs would take 1/4 trains each.

Station hub 2, where you can see the 1/4 selector

To pick one out of four or eight trains accurately, a mechanism was needed. The most used system consisted of a not gate (the MagLev loops at the top) which would allow the train in the counter (erail loops in the bottom) to move ahead one signal for each train. The loop had 4 signals, and thus four segments. By tapping into one of the segments, we could get a signal for every fourth train. The remaining pair of not gates (MagLev loops in the center) were used to always have one red signal and one green signal, so that trains couldn’t have second thoughts and still go the wrong way.

You can have a look at the game in the PublicServer Archive

As a special feature, there were new logic trains available. Going at supersonic speeds, they allowed the user to create extremely fast responding logic systems, and made completing the plan a lot easier. You can find them in OpenTTD’s online content section.

The patch setting “When dragging, place signals every: X tiles” should always be set to “2″ when playing on #openttdcoop, and most players will also use this setting if playing alone. If dragging signals, you will always have one piece of track with a signal on it followed by one without one and so on.

Now, if trains are jamming up somewhere in the network, for example behind a full station, those trains should block as little space as possible, so that they won’t for example block the mainline.

As you can see in the first screenshot, with signals every 2 tiles, the trains with tilelength 5 (left) fit almost perfectly in between the signals. However, the TL4-trains (right) always have a gap of more than one tile between them and need as much space as the TL5-trains. To fix that, you would have to place additional signals in the gaps, which might look ugly (especiall for straight track, see below) and is a lot of work, as you would have to do it manually.

In the first screenshot, you have seen what happens with diagonal track, now the second picture shows you that the effect is the same with straight track.

You can compare any odd and even tilelength, there will always be a greater gap at the even tilelength. This leads me to the conclusion that it might be better to use odd tilelengths rather than even ones, if nothing speaks against it.

There isn’t a big difference in carried cargo if using tilelength 15 or 13 instead of 14, but you will have a better usage of track space. To convince people to use tl 5 or 3 instead of 4 might be more difficult, as this makes quite a difference, however, i would still strongly suggest to always use odd tilelengths – maybe even in all #openttdcoop games? Tell me what you think!

I also created a wiki-article about it – have a look if you want!

All you need for this trick is a small amount of money and some quick fingertips, otherwise the flood will be faster than you.

The Video

Tutorial – The Canal Trick

• Build canals around the area you want create land in
• Use the dynamite to create land tiles in the canal surrounded area
• be quick enough

Problems

Never leave a coast tile with shore in an area created, it’ll automatically flood your land again. As well you should never delete canals again. The built tracks and everything on it will be flooded.

Ship Paths

Good point. Those landbridges do NOT allow any ship routes. Though you can create small bridges.